Post AYYWERF8KMbX1dRGMq by nyrath@spacey.space
 (DIR) More posts by nyrath@spacey.space
 (DIR) Post #AYYWERF8KMbX1dRGMq by nyrath@spacey.space
       2023-08-09T12:16:35Z
       
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       Interstellar Trade RelationsRon Garrita analyzes interstellar trading between worlds of differing technology levels in the Traveller TTRPGhttp://twilightgm.blogspot.com/2023/08/trade-relations.html#Traveller #InterstellarTrade
       
 (DIR) Post #AYYWESPnyAjcf1RIdk by tkinias@historians.social
       2023-08-09T13:10:06Z
       
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       @nyrath I’m still not convinced by the idea that low-tech worlds produce goods cheaper than high-tech worlds except in very specific cases. Consider a TL7 desktop computer: That’s maybe $10k in real terms for a really *crappy* machine by today’s standards. We could produce that same machine now for a tiny fraction of what it costs to make it at TL7.IRL the US even does *agriculture* cheaper than poor countries do, when its able to substitute capital for labor—as with large-scale cereal crops.
       
 (DIR) Post #AYYWETRGAFUbpp7yXw by nyrath@spacey.space
       2023-08-09T13:30:49Z
       
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       @tkinias Agreed.I was also mistaken on how rapidly a low tech world would advance even if surrounded by high tech. I had not heard of the development trap or the cycle of poverty. Which is why nations like Somalia exist surrounded by high tech countries but yet are mostly shanty towns spiced with occasional firearms and smartphones.
       
 (DIR) Post #AYYWETk32OWOm5uypc by tkinias@historians.social
       2023-08-09T13:13:32Z
       
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       @nyrath Rich countries IRL import lots of manufactures from poor countries, but they’re being made using EU/US/JP tech, just taking advantage of the global migration regime’s restriction on labor mobility to use cheap labor overseas. The only place that low-TL places have competitive advantage is going to be in labor-intensive work that the high-TL place can’t automate—examples at IRL TL are fruit and vegetable crops and garment manufacturing.